a At the log deck are Local 1-3567 members operator Don Porterfield and assistant utility man Nagar Kaila. a. a. Japanese open coastal veneer plant following a three year shutdown The other one of the three plywood- related operations still left in the Low- er Mainland is the CIPA Lumber Company Ltd.’s Delta Panel Division on Annacis Island near New Westmin- ster. The last issue of the Lwmberworker looked at the nearby Cantree Plywood operation which is also certified to IWA-CANADA Local 1-3567. CIPA is owned by a large Japanese firm known as ITOCHU CANADA LTD. The company bought the veneer and plywood operation in the summer of 1993. The plant, which was previously was owned by Fletcher Challenge Canada, had been closed since the Spring of 1991. The Japanese in- vestors opened the plant in December of 1993 and ploughed about $25 mil- lion into the purchase and moderniza- tion of the operation. Although the plant used to be a full plywood plant, producing up to a pre- mium quality good one-side fir ply- wood sheet, today it operates as only a veneer plant. According to the mill’s General Manager Doug Barclay, one of the rea- sons that ITOCHU bought the opera- tion is that it realizes that fibre supply is getting tighter around the world and an opportunity to obtain fir and hem- lock veneer presented itself with the purchase of the mill. In addition the Japanese are more readily able to buy veneer which suits their specific market requirements. Those sizes are metric which often are the equivalent of a 3’x 8’ sheet. As in the past Mr. Barclay says that “none of the companies on the coast in Canada or the U.S. are committed to making Japanese sizes.” Therefore the Japanese think that its better to make the veneer themselves. About 20% of the veneer production Forklift driver Mohinder Ark stops for a word with local business agent Bob Dorick, who originates from the plant. is shipped off to Japan and the rest is sold mainly on the Pacific coast, to B.C. plywood producers and manufac- turers south of the line. The union has been informed that the company hopes to eventually get the operation up and running com- pletely with a press, trim line and stacker, But there has been no firm date set for all of this to happen. The plant employs up to 80 Local 1- 3567 members on three 8 hour shifts, five days a week. All of these workers were called back from the old Fletch- er Challege seniority list. The cut off point is 15 years of seniority, Local 1-3567 business agent Bob Donick says that the call-back agree- ment negotiated with CIPA will stand until 1997. So former workers could still be re-hired if jobs become open due to mill expansion or natural attri- tion of the present work force in the operation. The workers currently get 90% of the coast master agreement plus any of the normal increase that are due in the current three year collective agreement. They will be up to 100% of the coast master by 1996. All benefits, pension included, are in the agree- ment. Before the plant was closed in 1991, Fletcher Challenge employed 249 union members. At that time the union accused Fletcher Challenge of using the economic recession and a downturn in the fir plywood market as an excuse for shutting down the operation and rationalizing the timber supply into its other mills. Today CIPA operates the mill with- out a timber quota, having to buy all of its logs out in the open market. The mill uses mostly douglas fir and has been using more hemlock in the past couple of years. “Mainly we are moving to hemlock because it is a cheaper log which commands a good veneer price,” says the general manager. “We want more options than just fir.” This year the company wants to do experimental runs with spruce and cottonwood. The mill had its log deck rebuilt. This has increased wood recovery, al- though there are a few bugs to iron out, says Mr. Barclay. The single most significant im- provement to the operation has been the introduction of an new 8 foot lath which, according to local union busi- ness agent Bob Donick, is “probably the most high-tech lathe in North America.” In fact, Brother Donick say that if CIPA completes its plans for getting a full plywood mill operating, it may be- come the most efficient plywood plant on the continent. The lathe, which was manufactured in Japan, is a combination spindle lathe and spindless lathe. It differs from the old-style spindle lathe which used to put 100% of torque on the logs’ ends. A new piece of equipment called the “gangi” roll drives the faces of the logs up to 27 inches and takes torque off of the ends. With this roll driving the log, only 25% of the normal torque is needed to peel the veneer. “Now we can take a lot lower quali- ty log and spin it down to a 2-1/4 inch core with very little waste,” says Mr. Barclay. Currently the core are sent toa chipper and then sold the MacMillan Bloedel’s Harmac pulp mill in Nanaimo. In addition to the improvements on the lathe and the log deck, the drying has been vamped up and there has been an overhaul of the grinding room. On the green end there is now an automatic veneer stacker which is look after by one attendant. All changes have made the plant state-of- the-art. ¢ Posing for a photo are I. to r. dryer feeders Joe Jutty, Charlie Ghuman, and Eddie Oikawa. ‘CUMBERWORKER/MARCH, 1995/11